A Perfect Weekend in Londontown
As my days here whittle down, I am both excited to move on to the next adventure and yet still clamoring to savor what’s left of this one. And let me tell you, a summer in Londontown makes my clamoring worthy of a full-time job.
Take this weekend, for example…
Saturday, 4:30am - Eyes closed, feeling the room fill with daylight through the lattice-worked windows of Centre khane. I remember envisioning this two years ago, back when “London” could only be a vision, a memory waiting to happen..
Saturday, 9:00am - My co-teacher and I sitting on the Central tube line heading Northwest to see our former students. Everything from the ride to our conversations with them resonates with the struggles and rewards of these past two years. It’s hard man, first learning for myself and then turning around to teach these adolescent crazies with their hormones, tantrums, and misguided angst. But to see them, one year later - a little more grown, a little more aware, and so much more able to articulate their appreciation (even if it’s in the form of a shy smile)…ahh it’s good…
1:00pm - At the IIS reading an article and munching on my Sainsbury sandwich. So maybe the food isn’t ideal, but it’s certainly representative. And the mark of a good weekend? If you can manage to fit in work AND play…have I finally gotten better at life?! But my favorite part about this…”at the IIS.” It never gets old.
3:30pm - Somerset House - watching a random (and if I’m being honest, sort of bekar) dance performance in the courtyard. At least the venue was nice. Chase that with a nice walk along the Thames, a short but sweet visit to one of my favorite spots in the city - the Tate Modern - and then crossing the Millennium bridge through a random piano performance at the other end, and finally ending up in front of St. Paul’s Cathedral. It’s pretty eclectic, breathtaking afternoon - a standard fare in this beautiful place :)
Sunday…should I feel bad that I’m loving London on the 4th of July?
1:00pm - MLA and I, marching on toward the grocery store with our soon-to-be filled-with-coke-and-bbq-supplies suitcases. We may not have cars, but we make it work :)
4:30pm - Gathering in the common room to celebrate KA’s pending nuptials. Picture an empty room transformed with some well-placed dupattas, a table of refreshments, and 40+ friends talking, laughing, supporting, and loving. Trust me when I say it really doesn’t get much better than this.
7:30pm - Celebrating my American roots with a handful of expats and a few Brits just for good taste :) There may not have been fireworks, but the bbq, the company and the random 90’s tunes blaring from NH’s phone more than made up for them. And of course, no weekend would be complete without London’s notorious spitting rain. On our American bbq. Not surprised.
10:30pm - Without a doubt, the best part about living here is the full-time access to opportunities to grow yourself…at random times in the night. Amidst warm mugs of chai, roasted mangoes (don’t ask), and enough chocolate to satisfy even the worst of fiends flows a conversation that incites, inspires, and stimulates…I look around the table at my friends - fellow scholars, aspiring teachers, waezens - and I think that for a brief moment I know what it must have felt like to be in Athens or Cairo or Baghdad at its intellectual peak. I cannot possibly ever be thankful enough.
2:00am - monopoly deal. Enough said.
And that folks, is a dream weekend in a dream city in a dream life that just happens to continue on while I’m awake. I love it.
